Darksiders: Wrath of War

The apocalypse never looked so good

War is having a pretty bad day. As one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, it was his job to help bring about the end of the world, and from the war torn environments we saw in an early build of Darksiders: Wrath of War, it looks like he did this job well. But it turns out that War and his horse-loving partners in evil have been bamboozled into bringing about the end of the world ahead of schedule.

Now War finds him alone, stripped of his powers and stuck in the middle of worldwide battle between angels and demons. Developer, Vigil Games has previously described Darksiders as their vision of a Zelda-type game. We see what they mean in the sense that War will acquire new powers and weapons during his journey that will help him solve puzzles to unlock new areas.

Above: What would a horseman be without a mount? Meet Ruin, War’s trusty demonic steed

But Link never had a huge chaingun strapped to his arm. Although we didn’t get the chance to get our hands on the controller, Darksiders’ combat system looks smooth and full of ridiculously overpowered moves and weapons. War’s chaingun doesn’t bring up an aiming reticule or give you any reason to be a prude about saving your ammo. Instead, we watched lead level designer, Ryan Stefanelli let loose with War’s arm cannon by mowing down waves of blood thirsty demons. It looks like shooting in Darksiders will be less about surgical precision and more about having fun, using the game’s more freestyle approach to aiming.

Darksiders melee combat also looks promising. In one area, we saw War use a killer combo with his oversized sword to cleave the arms off a giant minotaur-like demon before jumping on its back to rip off its head with his bare hands. We also watched War get creative with his surroundings by hurling cars at enemies.

Above: There will be blood. Lots and lots of blood

Although Darksider’s characters and premise are loosely based on the story of man’s destruction in the Book of Revelation, the game’s character designs come from the mind of famed comic book artist, Joe “Mad” Madureira. We really like his sci-fi take on War. His steely space marine-like armor suit contrasts nicely with the more traditional fantasy-based monsters he tears apart. Darksiders is currently in development for both the 360 and PS3. 360 owners can expect to see Darksiders on shelves sometime early next year. But developer, Vigil Games isn’t quite ready to talk about when PS3 owners can expect to get their hands on War. In the meantime,click herefor the latest screenshots and check out Darksiders: Wrath of War’s teaser below.